Infant and toddler pathways leading to early externalizing disorders

Objective: To examine pathways leading to specific types of early externali zing disorders. Method: Longitudinal data were collected on 310 low-income, male subjects followed from infancy until age 6 years. Results: Support ac ross informants was found for the importance of the caregiving environment during infancy in relation to the development of externalizing disorders at school entry. Support was also found for the significance of early child f actors, but this was limited to child behavior at home. Conclusions: The re sults are consistent with social learning and attachment models, which sugg est that severe conduct problems in early childhood are the result of defic its in the caregiving environment. Support was also found for Moffitt's hyp othesis that children with the comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity dis order-oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder pattern experience mul tiple child and psychosocial risk factors that begin during infancy.